Part 11
The hospitals, which in many cities exist, are for the greater part government establishments, which are administered on account of the local magistracy, by a number of directors appointed thereto, in which hospitals all inmates, without any distinction as to religion, are taken in; some of these hospitals are however separate foundations, which exist wholly, or in part, on their own revenues.
Amongst the orphan houses and charities for children and old people, there are several establishments which exist wholly or in part on their own revenues; whereas the remainder are generally the property of particular church administrations of the poor, which in great cities is almost generally the case in orphan houses, or charities for children.
Foundlings and abandoned children, at the charge of the place in which they are abandoned, are provided for in the establishment for children of the society for charitable purposes; by which institution the beggars are also provided for in the establishments appropriated for that purpose, and acknowledged by the government, at the charge of the place where they have a claim for relief.
There exist three local workhouses, one at Amsterdam, one at Middleburgh, and one in the commonalty Nieuwe Pekel A., in the province of Groningen, in which paupers, generally those who apply of their own accord, are taken in, upon condition that they contribute to their support as much as possible by labour: further, there are in several places twenty-one charitable houses of industry, which procure work for paupers who are in immediate want of work, either in the houses of industry, or at their own dwellings.
Besides the before-mentioned institutions, there are also various places, unions, and societies, the intentions of which are to grant relief in some way or other; namely, some for the relief of very indigent poor; others for granting relief to poor lying-in-women; and the commissions or societies which during the winter distribute provisions and fuel.
For the twelve years from 1820 to 1831, the receipts of the administration for the established charity houses, and those of the hospitals, taken on an average for each year, amount together;
| Guilders. 1. The revenues of properties and acknowledged rights | 2,461,883 26 2. Proceeds of collections | 1,320,551 48 3. Subsidies granted by | _a._ The parishes 1,779,719 67| _b._ The provinces of the State 38,642 78| --------------+ 1,818,362 45 +--------------- Making Guilders | 5,600,797 19 | By which all the disbursements of these | institutions are covered. | | And if to the above-mentioned sum are added, for the | same period of twelve years, the following, viz.: | | 1. For the local workhouses and charitable houses of | industry: | _a._ Revenues of properties | 7,458 50 _b._ Collections | 7,971 63 _c._ Subsidies of the parishes | 99,083 87 2. For the new erected beggars’ workhouses: | _a._ Daily wages paid by the parish for the | beggars placed therein | 41,090 40 _b._ Provincial subsidies | 871 49 3. For the society for charitable purposes: | _a._ Contributions and voluntary donations | by individuals | 48,893 55 _b._ Monies for stipulated contracts | 208,651 69 +--------------- Consequently, the whole sum is Guilders 6,014,818 32 --------------------------
It appears from this statement that rather more than 6,000,000 guilders (equal, at 20_d._ the guilder, to 500,000_l._ sterling) has, on an average of the last 12 years, been annually expended on the relief of the poor, being an expense per head, on an average population of 2,292,350, of about 4_s._ 4¼_d._--an expenditure small compared with our own, but very large when compared with the average expenditure of Europe.
The official report does not state the progressive increase of the annual expenditure; but it contains a table of the progressive increase of the number of persons receiving relief, from which we extract the particulars of the 10 years ending with 1831. (p. 580.)
HOLLAND.--Statement of the Number of Persons who have received Relief, or to whom Work has been given, by the Civil or Ecclesiastical Charitable Institutions in North Netherland, during 10 years, from 1822 to 1831 inclusive.
+----+----------+------------------------------- | | | Institutions for Relief. | | +-----------+----------+-------- | | | | | | | | | | | |Population| Number of | | | |of North | Persons | | | |Netherland| relieved |Population| Number | |on the | by the | of the | of | |31st Dec. | direction |Hospitals.|Persons. | | | of the | | | | |Poor-House.| | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | +----+----------+-----------+----------+-------- |1822| 2,190,171| 174,802 | 20,501 | 195,303 | | | | | |1823| 2,219,982| 193,633 | 17,430 | 211,063 | | | | | |1824| 2,253,794| 196,786 | 19,955 | 216,741 | | | | | |1825| 2,281,789| 240,400 | 17,943 | 222,343 | | | | | |1826| 2,296,169| 227,501 | 18,731 | 246,232 | | | | | |1827| 2,307,661| 232,426 | 19,775 | 252,201 | | | | | |1828| 2,329,934| 217,343 | 17,928 | 235,271 | | | | | |1829| 2,427,206| 235,771 | 17,884 | 253,655 | | | | | |1830| 2,444,550| 244,503 | 17,870 | 262,373 | | | | | |1831| 2,454,176| 248,380 | 17,887 | 266,267 +----+----------+-----------+----------+--------
Key to Column Headings: Col A1: Fed and lodged in the Institutions. Col A2: Those only who have worked in the same, or at their own Houses. Col A3: Together.
Col B1: At Hoorn. Col B2: At Veere. Col B3: Together, or in the whole.
Col C1: Poor Families making the number of Persons. Col C2: Orphans, Foundlings, or abandoned Children. Col C3: Beggars. Col C4: Persons, Veterans’ families, making together. Col C5: Together, or in the whole.
Col D: Number of Persons
----+-------------------------------------------------------------------- | INSTITUTIONS FOR GIVING OR PROCURING WORK. +---------------+-----------------+---------------------------+------ | Number of | | | | Persons who | | | |have worked in | |Population of the Colonies,| | and for the | Population | and Establishments of | | the local | of Paupers’ | the Society for | |Workhouses and | Workhouses. | Charitable Purposes. | | Charitable | | | | Work-places. | | | +---+-----+-----+----+-----+------+-----+-----+-----+---+-----+ | | | | | | | | | | | | |A1 | A2 | A3 | B1 | B2 | B3 | C1 | C2 | C3 |C4 | C5 | D | | | | | | | | | | | | ----+---+-----+-----+----+-----+------+-----+-----+-----+---+-----+------ 1822|id.| id. |3,227|750 | .. | 750 |1,979| 456| 300| ..|2,735| 6,712 | | | | | | | | | | | | 1823|id.| id. |4,358|750 |273 |1,023 |2,295| 475|1,053| ..|3,823| 9,202 | | | | |[10] | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | 1824|id.| id. |4,271|700 |200 | 900 |2,614|1,214|1,061| ..|4,889|10,060 | | | | | | | | | | | | 1825|862|2,982|3,844|323 |136 | 459 |3,227|2,174|1,377| ..|6,778|11,081 | | | | | | [11] | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | 1826|920|3,199|4,119|380 | 82 | 462 |2,724|2,233|1,581|231|6,769|11,350 | | | | |[12] | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | 1827|670|4,001|4,671|378 | .. | 378 |2,560|2,059|1,763|401|6,783|11,832 | | | |[13]| | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | 1828|607|4,017|4,624| .. | .. | .. |2,510|2,358|1,826|562|7,256|11,880 | | | | | | | | | | | | 1829|672|4,077|4,749| .. | .. | .. |2,626|2,340|1,942|543|7,451|12,200 | | | | | | | | | | | | 1830|733|4,263|4,996| .. | .. | .. |2,619|2,288|2,111|473|7,491|12,487 | | | | | | | | | | | | 1831|973|4,637|5,610| .. | .. | .. |2,694|2,297|2,406|456|7,853|13,463 ----+---+-----+-----+----+-----+------+-----+-----+-----+---+-----+------
----+---------+--------------------------------------+ | | Statement for the Population | | | of North Netherland of 100 Persons. | | General |------------+------------+------------+ | Total | | | Of the | | Persons | Of the | | general | |who have |Total Number|Of the Total| Total of | |received | of Persons | of Persons | Persons | | Relief, |relieved or | by the | who have | | or to | maintained |Institution |participated| |whom Work| by the | for | in the | |has been |Institution | providing | Relief, or | | given. |for granting| Work. | to whom | | | Support. | | Work has | | | | |been given. | ----+---------+------------+------------+------------+ 1822| 202,015 | 8,914 | 0,306 | 9,220 | | | | | | 1823| 220,265 | 9,507 | 0,415 | 9,922 | | | | | | 1824| 226,801 | 9,617 | 0,446 | 10,063 | | | | | | 1825| 233,424 | 9,744 | 0,486 | 10,230 | | | | | | 1826| 257,582 | 10,724 | 0,494 | 11,218 | | | | | | 1827| 264,033 | 10,929 | 0,513 | 11,442 | | | | | | 1828| 247,151 | 10,098 | 0,510 | 10,608 | | | | | | 1829| 265,855 | 10,450 | 0,503 | 10,953 | | | | | | 1830| 274,860 | 10,733 | 0,511 | 11,244 | | | | | | 1831| 279,730 | 10,849 | 0,549 | 11,398 | ----+---------+------------+------------+------------+
OBSERVATIONS.
_General Observations._--Although the persons who have only worked in or for the charitable work-places, and are not lodged or fed in them, are probably already included amongst the number of those who have been relieved by the direction of the Poor-house; it was, however, thought proper not to exclude them from this Table, because the expenses of procuring work belong likewise to these persons.
[10] This being the first year in which the establishment at Veere was opened.
[11] This decrease is occasioned by the removal of able paupers to the Ommerschans.
[12] This establishment was done away with on the 20th June, and the able paupers were removed to the Ommerschans, and the invalid paupers to Hoorn.
[13] This establishment was done away with on the 15th October, all the paupers in it were removed to the Ommerschans.
It appears from this table that the number of persons relieved has steadily increased from 202,015, the number in 1822, to 279,730, the number in 1831; and that the proportion of paupers to independent members of society has also increased from 9²³⁰⁄₁₀₀₀ per cent., the proportion in 1822, or rather more than one-eleventh, to 11⁸⁹⁸⁄₁₀₀₀ per cent., or rather more than one-ninth, the proportion in 1831: a proportion exceeding even that of England.
And it is to be observed that the greater part of this great positive and relative increase of pauperism has taken place during a period of profound peace, internal and external; only one of these years being subsequent to the Belgian revolution. It is probable that if the years 1832 and 1833 had been given, the comparison with the earlier period would have been still more unfavourable.
We have omitted in the statement of the expenditure for the relief of the poor a sum of 200,000 guilders, or about 16,666_l._ sterling, annually employed on the gratuitous instruction of poor children: the number thus instructed in 1831 was 73,609. It does not appear, however, that any persons are compelled to attend to the education of their children, except by its being made (as is the general rule on the Continent of Europe) one of the conditions on which relief is granted: and the Consul states that the labourers in general think it beneath them to let their children go to school for nothing; and that some, when unable to pay, prefer keeping them at home.
It is remarkable that neither the official nor the consular report dwells on that portion of the Dutch poor institutions which has excited the greatest attention in Europe, namely, the Poor Colonies.
POOR COLONIES.
The following statements are extracted from the narrative of Count Arrivabene, who visited them in 1829: (pp. 610, 611, 612, 613, 614.)
The dearths of 1816 and 1817, and the consequent distress, occasioned the establishment, in the northern provinces of the Low Countries, of a Philanthropic Society (_Société de bienfaisance_), to whose funds each subscriber was to pay one halfpenny a week. The subscribers soon amounted to 20,000. One of its projects was the foundation of poor colonies among the heaths, with which this country abounds. The Colonies were to be divided into Colonies for the Repression of Mendicity, Colonies for Indigent Persons and Veterans, Free Colonies, Colonies for Inspectors of Agricultural Works, Colonies for Orphans and Foundlings, and Colonies for Agricultural Instruction.
In the first year of its formation the Society established the Free Colony, called Frederiks-Oord, on the heaths between the provinces of Drenthe, Friesland, and Over-Yssel. It consisted of 52 small farms, part of which had been previously cultivated by the Society, of a store-house, of several workshops, a school, &c. It was peopled with families, indigent, but not dependent altogether on alms. The expense of its foundation amounted to 68,000 flor. (5666_l._ 13_s._ 4_d._), and was defrayed out of the annual subscriptions and donations of the members of the _Société de bienfaisance_; and in order to give employment to the colonists during the dead season of the year, the Society engaged to purchase from them 26,000 ells of linen.
In 1819, the Society proposed to the directors of the Orphan Institutions throughout the kingdom, to take charge, at a fixed annual payment, of any number of orphans of the age of six years, leaving to those institutions the right of superintending their treatment. To meet this expense, the society borrowed 280,000 flor. (23,333_l._ 6_s._ 10_d._). The orphans were for a time placed in separate dwellings, six orphans with two elderly persons, to act as their parents, in each. But afterwards almost all were collected into large buildings. In the same year the members of the society had increased to 22,500, and their subscriptions to 82,500 flor. or 6875_l._, and the society was enabled to establish two other free colonies, and to place in them 150 families.
In 1820, the society borrowed 100,000 flor. more, or 8333_l._ 6_s._ 8_d._, which, with donations to the amount of 78,000 flor. or 6500_l._, enabled it during that year to settle 150 more families.
In 1821, the society by means of loans and subscriptions had collected a sum of 421,000 flor. or 35,083_l._ 6_s._ 8_d._, of which 300,000 flor., or 25,000_l._ was borrowed, and 121,000 flor., or 10,983_l._ 6_s._ 8_d._ subscribed, and was possessed of seven free colonies, consisting of 500 small farms, with the public buildings to which we have alluded.
In 1822 the society founded the first colony for the repression of mendicity; and engaged with the Government to receive and settle on its colonies 4000 orphans, 2500 indigent persons, and 1500 mendicants, the Government engaging to pay for each orphan 45 florins, or 3_l._ 15_s._ a year, for 16 years, but nothing for the others. As yet the society has fulfilled only a part of its engagements. It has, however, established every kind of colony which we have enumerated.
_Frederiks-Oord._
In August, 1829, we visited all the colonies of the society. Those of Frederiks-Oord are spread over a space of two leagues. The small farms, containing each about 9 English acres, extend along the sides of roads, bordered with trees, and of canals, which intersect the colonies in different directions. Each house is composed of one great room, round the walls of which are placed the large drawer-like beds, in which, according to the custom of the Dutch peasantry, the family sleep. A cow-house, a barn, and every building necessary for an agricultural family, is annexed to the farm. Near the house is the garden; beyond it the land to be cultivated.
Upon his admission into the colony, each colonist makes a declaration, by which he binds himself to obey its rules, as respects subordination to its officers, moral and religious conduct on the part of himself and his family, modes of working, wearing the colonial uniform, &c.
When a family of 8 persons (the number usually adopted by the society) has been settled in a farm, the society opens an account with them, in which they are debited in the sum of 1700 florins, or 141_l._ 13_s._ 4_d._, which is considered as having been advanced for their use under the following heads:--
flor. _£_ _s._ _d._ Purchase-money of 9 acres of land 100 or 8 6 8 Labour previously expended on it 400 ” 83 6 8 Two cows and some sheep 150 ” 12 10 0 The house 500 ” 41 13 4 Incidental expenses 50 ” 4 3 4 Furniture and clothing 250 ” 20 6 8 Reserved fund for extraordinary occasions 250 ” 20 16 8 ---- --- -- -- 1700 141 13 4
The sum advanced for furniture and clothing is stopped out of the wages of the colonist; and as soon as the farm has been completely brought under cultivation, the head of the family is annually debited 60 florins, or 5_l._, as the interest of the remainder of the capital, and the rent of the farm.
During three years at the least, the colonists cultivate the land in common, and receive wages, but are allowed to make use of no part of the produce of the farm; though that of the garden and the cows is their own. The farm produce (and it appeared to us to be very trifling), consisting principally of rye, potatoes, and buck-wheat, is taken to the storehouses of the society to be preserved for subsequent distribution, either as prepared food or otherwise, among the colonists, in payment or on account of their wages.
As long as a family cannot provide its own subsistence, it receives food daily from the society; but when it can provide for itself (as it can when it earns 4 flor., or 6_s._ 8_d._ a week), it is allowed to prepare its food at home.
The society distributes medals of copper, of silver, and of gold. The first are the rewards of those who distinguish themselves by regular labour and good conduct, and confer the right to leave the colony on Sundays and holydays without asking permission. The second are bestowed on those whose industry supplies their whole subsistence; they confer the right to leave the colony without permission, not only on Sundays and holydays, but on every day of the week, at the hours not devoted to labour. The golden medals are distributed to those who have already obtained silver ones, when their farms produce the annual value of 250 flor. (20_l._ 16_s._ 8_d._), and upon obtaining them the colonist is no longer subjected to the strict colonial regimen, though some restrictions still distinguish him from an ordinary farmer. The medals which have been obtained by good conduct may be lost or suspended, with their privileges, by misbehaviour. They are solemnly distributed, and withdrawn every fifteen days.